


A Fiery End

by cordeliadelayne



Category: Primeval
Genre: Action/Adventure, Brave Ryan, Brave Stephen, Dinosaurs, Established Relationship, Frottage, Humour, Luckily Ryan's there to stop him getting killed, M/M, Stephen keeps doing heroic things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-22
Updated: 2016-06-22
Packaged: 2018-07-16 12:57:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7269109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cordeliadelayne/pseuds/cordeliadelayne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's never a dull moment on the Anomaly Project, no matter how much the team might wish it were so.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Fiery End

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lukadreaming](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=lukadreaming).



> Written as a Christmas present for the always lovely lukadreaming who gave the prompt “Saw a train set the night on fire”.
> 
> Originally posted to Livejournal in 2012.

Stephen and Ryan stood side by side, faces warm, with smoke drifting occasionally in front of them. They were both observing the same scene, but having very different reactions.

“Cutter is going to fucking kill me,” Stephen said.

“Yes,” Ryan replied with a grin and gentle nudge to Stephen's ribs. “I expect he is.”

**12 Hours Previously**

“Ryan, we're going to be late, get a move on!”

“Has any one told you, you screech?” Ryan asked, appearing out of the kitchen with a piece of toast in his hand and his jumper on inside out.

“No,” Stephen said, leaning down and taking a bite out of Ryan's piece of toast. “And you should look in a mirror before you leave.”

Ryan pulled a face and did as instructed, cursing as he tried to eat his toast and fix his clothing. “I don't know what's so bloody important about this thing anyway.”

“It's important to Cutter,” Stephen said.

He opened the front door to their house and then leaned against the wall, letting the cool breeze wash over him. He knew their being late was partly his fault, after all him giving Ryan that second blow job had suitably scrambled Ryan's brains, but he also knew that Cutter wouldn't be pleased if they weren't all assembled to see him getting his scientific award from the Chancellor of the University.

“Right, will this do?”

Ryan turned away from the mirror and saw the way Stephen was lounging by the open door. His traitorous cock twitched.

“Perfect,” Stephen said, his eyes darting to Ryan's crotch as if he knew exactly what it was doing.

“I really, really hate you,” Ryan said, without any heat to the words.

Stephen laughed. “I hate you too darling, now come on.”

* * * * * *

Stephen and Ryan were, as expected, the last to arrive and looked suitably chastised under Claudia's glare. Thankfully Abby and Connor had saved them a seat near the front, not that the place was packed. In fact Stephen didn't think the lecture hall was more than a third full. It wasn't surprising really, Cutter had hardly turned up for his own seminars at the best of times and avoided as many university functions as he could get away with – which were a considerable amount – so he wasn't exactly one of the more renowned members of staff.

Still, Stephen did recognise some students, current and old, who had made the trip and he nodded politely to a couple who had been in his own year.

“I suppose drinking my way through this evening is out of the question?” Ryan asked, not quietly enough if Claudia's glare was anything to go by.

“Sorry, love,” Stephen replied, “you’ll just have to let me make it up to you later.”

Ryan wriggled his eyebrows and Stephen swallowed his laugh as the Chancellor took to the stage.

The ceremony was just as boring as Ryan had feared, but Cutter's pleasure, and the team's pride in his recognition was genuine and Ryan felt honoured to be a part of it.

Afterwards there were drinks and nibbles – sandwiches which looked like they were first served up during the Cold War, vol au vents of a dubious lineage and stacks of bottles of wine and fruit juice. Ryan was unsurprised that most people were heading for the wine.

“I'll drive us back,” Stephen said, handing Ryan a large glass of wine. “No beer, sorry.”

“I'll manage,” Ryan said, fully intending to down the entire glass in one. Right up until his phone started ringing. At the same moment as Stephen's, Claudia's, Abby's, Connor's and Cutter's. It earned them more than a few curious glances – Cutter's speech hadn't mentioned what project he was currently working on but Ryan gathered Claudia had already had to weave a few stories to get people off the scent – but it was becoming abundantly clear that they were all up to something.

“Damn it,” Stephen muttered. “Looks like it's serious.”

Ryan nodded and put the wine down. “Come on, no point crying over spilt milk.”

Stephen rolled his eyes. “Do they give you a saying for every moment in the army, or is it just a natural talent?”

“I'm all natural,” Ryan replied with a grin and pressing a quick kiss to Stephen's lips.

“Boys, honestly,” Claudia huffed, though she wasn't as annoyed as she pretended judging by her wide smile. Even Cutter seemed quite happy despite having to cut short the time at his own event.

“Well the best part was already over,” Cutter said as they all headed towards their cars.

“Which was?” Claudia asked, sounding as if she didn’t really want to know.

“The look on the Head of Faculty's face when I received the award,” Cutter chuckled. “I'll be dining out on this for years!”

* * * * *

The anomaly turned out to be at an old railway siding now used by a historical preservation society who hired out trains for special events and let members of the public have a go at driving them. “Connor's kind of people, then,” Ryan had said, though bumping shoulders with Connor as he did so to show he didn’t mean any harm by it.

Connor shrugged. “Never understood the appeal myself. Now, if it was the Millennium Falcon...”

Stephen decided to steer the conversation away from Star Wars as quickly as possible. “Have you found the anomaly yet?”

“I think it's down here...” Connor said, pointing down the tracks a little way. The view was obscured by the trees, all of them leaning over towards the tracks; clearly this part of the restoration hadn't been started yet.

“I'll see if I can find some tracks,” Stephen said, moving off.

“Hold on,” Ryan said, “are you -”

Stephen pulled out a gun and cocked it, to show that it was loaded. “I won't be long.”

He set off at a jog before Ryan could argue. Ryan watched him go for a moment before barking out orders; Stephen could look after himself he muttered under his breath, the same mantra he kept telling himself whenever they were on a shout.

* * * * *

Stephen slowed his pace once he'd jumped down onto the train tracks. Even knowing that there were no trains running along here any more didn't make it seem any less dangerous. There was no way of telling what creature might have barrelled through the anomaly, not until he found some decent tracks.

He flicked on his torch and carefully examined the ground before him. It had been a damp night, so if there were any tracks they should have been blindingly obvious. The closer Stephen got to the anomaly – he could feel its pull on his belt – the more luck they seemed to have; there were no tracks anywhere that weren’t clearly made by a bird or a regular sized cat. Wherever this particular anomaly lead it would seem it was happy to keep its secrets, and Stephen certainly wasn't going to object.

Stephen was just reaching for his mobile to fill in the others on what he'd discovered when he felt a rumbling underneath his feet. The track was also making a noise, a kind of buzzing... Puzzled Stephen leaned down and put his hand on it – yes, definitely vibrating. He looked back towards where he could only just make out the headlights of the anomaly team's cars – but everything appeared as normal. Then he turned back to the anomaly. He would swear that sound was getting louder.

“Oh my god,” he whispered as he realised that whatever was on the other side of the anomaly, was heading straight for him.

He jumped out of the way just in time, scraping his shoulder against the ground as he rolled and hit the side of the tracks, covering his head with his hands as a train barrelled straight out of the anomaly, bouncing along on the tracks and coming to a screeching halt with half of its coaches still on the other side of the anomaly.

He could hear Ryan's voice raised above that of all the others, shouting out his name, but for the moment he was too breathless and surprised to move. Where the hell had that come from?

It took him a moment to realise that there was a bloody great baby Stegosaurus on a pallet right next to him. Then he was moving quicker than ever, standing up and pointing a gun at the nearest person to him, who just happened to have a gun of their own.

“Put it the fuck down,” Ryan shouted, clearly not interested in taking prisoners.

Stephen let himself relax a little, but didn't otherwise move. “He's talking to you,” he said, in an exaggerated whisper.

The person in front of him slowly lowered their weapon. They were dressed all in black, with only their eyes showing. Ryan stalked up to them and pulled the balaclava off their head. A shock of blonde hair cascaded down the woman's back, surprising them all.

“You have no jurisdiction here,” she said calmly.

“No jurisdiction?” Ryan repeated, incredulously. “Stealing dinosaurs from the past is exactly our jurisdiction.”

The woman couldn’t hide her surprise fast enough – clearly she had no idea that any one else knew about the anomalies.

“I want to speak to my lawyer.”

Ryan shook his head. “I don't think so. Boys,” he shouted to his men, “round up the rest of these morons.”

One of his men took charge of the woman while Ryan went over to Stephen. “Are you hurt?”

“No, well, not really.”

They both looked at the train and its passenger. “You had a bloody close call.”

“Yeah,” Stephen said, letting out a shaky breath. If he hadn't moved in time, there was no way he would have survived.

“Don't do that again,” Ryan said. Then he pushed Stephen up against the wall and kissed him viciously, biting at his lower lip. Stephen spread his legs and let Ryan take what he needed, grappling at his lover's back, trying to find a purchase that wasn't completely uncomfortable, but failing miserably. He didn't care though, it felt too good for that and when he came it was the most intense orgasm he'd had in years.

Ryan panted to completion and laid his head down on Stephen's shoulder. There was no doubt by the state of them that everyone would know what they'd just done, but neither of them could summon up the effort to care.

Ryan's phone rang, startling them both. He pressed it to his ear and grinned at Stephen.

“Claudia wants to know if we've quite finished. Have we?”

“For the moment,” Stephen said.

“Be right up,” Ryan replied.

* * * * * *

“So, what's her story?” Ryan asked the small group of Cutter, Claudia and Connor. Abby and Stephen were with some of his men dealing with the Stegosaurus.

“Dinosaurs for hire,” Cutter said, incredulously. He handed Ryan a business card with that line embossed on it and a single phone number.

“You're kidding?” Ryan asked.

“Seems like there's big business in dinosaurs,” Claudia said. “That one apparently comes in at a cool million.”

“Just when I thought we'd seen it all,” Ryan muttered, shaking his head in disgust. “How'd Lester take the news?”

Claudia smiled grimly. “I'll let you know.” She took out her phone and asked to be put through to Lester. She moved away somewhere quieter so she could talk to him properly, but they all heard him yelling easily enough.

“I wouldn't want to be in her shoes right now,” Ryan said. Cutter wasn't paying any attention, just staring at Claudia. “I know who'd like to be in her knickers though,” he muttered under his breath.

“Sorry, did you say something?” Cutter asked.

“No, no, just talking to myself,” Ryan smirked. He walked off, enjoying Cutter's look of confusion.

* * * * *

The woman wasn’t talking, and neither was the driver of the train. Ryan's men were conducting a thorough search of the train when there was a sudden shout and the train began to lurch backwards – straight towards the anomaly.

Ryan heard Cutter shout “stop it” and wondered just what Cutter expected them to do against a bloody great train. Then he spotted Stephen running next to the tracks and jumping onto the train engine.

“Damn it,” Ryan cursed and found himself running after Stephen. He was sure he heard Claudia shouting something after them about “bloody heroics” but chose to ignore that in favour of trying to stop his boyfriend getting himself killed.

He just managed to hold on to the front of the train engine and felt the familiar tug on his belt as they passed through the anomaly into the past.

Ryan had a moment to think that the set-up was pretty impressive – they'd laid out train tracks into the anomaly far enough so that they were only a walking distance from a nearby watering hole – before he jumped off and ran after the driver who had just jumped out. Night was falling fast and it was going to be difficult to track him if he didn't catch him soon.

He heard Stephen yelling at someone else but he just had to rely on the fact that Stephen knew what he was doing. Which was more than he could say for the driver – where the hell did he think he was going to escape to?

But as they headed over a ridge he realised exactly what the man's plan was. There below them, twinkling like stars, were a dozen anomalies. Another of Connor's spaghetti junctions.

“Halt or I fire!” Ryan shouted.

The man turned around and laughed. “Do you know what this is?” he asked, holding up a small device in his hand. Ryan had a sinking feeling in his gut. “It's a contingency plan.” The man pressed a button and suddenly the earth seemed to shake and rumble.

Ryan turned around and saw the train explode into a giant fireball.

“Stephen!” he shouted, even though his voice couldn't possibly carry over the sound of the explosion.

He started to run back towards the train, not caring what the other man did; all he could think about was finding Stephen.

“Stephen! Stephen, where are you?” Smoke was getting into Ryan's eyes, making him choke. He had no idea what he'd do if he couldn't find him.

“Here!” Stephen called out, before launching into a coughing fit. “Here.”

Ryan saw him off to the side of the watering hole, his top half completely soaked, as he kneeled on the ground. The woman was lying next to him, covered in soot.

“Are you all right?” Ryan asked, grabbing him into a tight embrace.

“Yeah,” Stephen managed between coughs. “Yeah. What the hell happened?”

“Idiot had a bomb on board,” Ryan said. “How's she?”

“Unconscious,” Stephen said. “She'll be okay.”

Ryan helped Stephen to stand and then they both faced the carnage before them. Neither of them could believe what they were seeing.

Stephen and Ryan stood side by side, faces warm, with smoke drifting occasionally in front of them. They were both observing the same scene, but having very different reactions.

“Cutter is going to fucking kill me,” Stephen said.

“Yes,” Ryan replied with a grin and gentle nudge to Stephen's ribs. “I expect he is.”

“It's not funny,” Stephen said, despite the smile trying to escape. “He told me to make sure the train didn’t go anywhere. We're going to have a hell of a job cleaning this mess up.”

“We're both alive,” Ryan pointed out. “Cutter will be pleased about that.”

Stephen sighed and they started to move back toward the anomaly. “I'm pretty sure I'm going to wish I was dead when Cutter's finished with me.”

“Don't worry,” Ryan whispered, “I'll protect you.”

Stephen supposed that was as good a promise as any.


End file.
